But here’s the BIG benefit of freelancing: Since you don’t have a “boss” you get to keep all the money for yourself. Your profit could be 3-10x higher, even if you work MUCH less hours. Let me show you what I mean…

How to go from $18/hr to $1,000/hr

When I first started freelancing, I was working at Longhorn Steakhouse (I’m basically a steak aficionado now). I was also working for Kaplan Test Prep teach SAT classes for high school students.

My steak skills weren’t worth much. But my Kaplan skills were.

I realized that people were paying $100+ per hour for me to tutor their student one-on-one — but I was only making $18/hour.

And the worst part was…

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD WAGE!

Our perceptions are skewed because minimum wage is $7.25. So we think that anything significantly higher than that is good money. The reality is, $7.25 isn’t even livable. You probably need a minimum of $20/hour to make it out here.

But when I really sat down to think about it…I just got INFURIATED.

Here I was, doing all the teaching, grading, talking, communicating with parents, driving from school to school while Kaplan just sat back remotely and took 82% of my money.

Bullshit.

Since I as the one with the skill, I needed to be the one making the money. I knew I could make this work on my own and cut out the middle man.

So I bided my time. I looked around, I made some calls.

I found a partner who was also interested in getting a freelance education business going. He was the consulting side, I was the teaching side. Together we knocked down doors, created classes and started making money. A lot more of it.

First, I quit Kaplan. Didn’t want any conflict of interest. Then, as soon as the restaurant started to get in the way of my new endeavor, I quit that as well.

When I quit both jobs, I wasn’t making quite as much with the new business…but the projections were giving me a solid indication that things would pick up quickly. So I just took the leap.

So mine your skills, do your homework and take the leap. Don’t look back.

Worst case scenario, you can always go back. Best case scenario, you’ll never have to.